Posts made in April, 2015

In yet another intellectual property-focused case, the Supreme Court has ruled that a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) may have a binding, preclusive effect on later litigation in a federal district court. The opinion came with a narrowed focus, allowing preclusion for issues adjudicated by the TTAB that are “materially the same” to those the parties take to the federal court, if the “other ordinary elements of issue preclusion” are also met. (Read the full opinion here)
The parties in B&B Hardware v. Hargis Industries were battling over whether the TTAB’s denial of registering Hargis’s “Sealtite” trademark because of the...